MOO 3 Game Manual

Eaglezeye · August 22, 2002, 13:08

Any info out there on the game manual? I'm curious about how many pages it might contain. If it's a large document, how will they fit it in the new small game packaging? Or will they only provide the full manual in electronic format?

Wouldn't it be great if they posted the game manual on their website 24 hours before the game hit the stores? (With all references to the Harvesters deleted by Rantz, of course.) It would be the first time I completely read a game manual before starting the game.

Mythox · August 22, 2002, 20:53

oh MOO3 i am waiting for the day that make u mein

i ll play till u will drive me crazy

Grumbold · August 23, 2002, 06:44

I hate electronic documentation, so I'm hoping they will follow in the footsteps of games like Civ III and NWN by making sure that the packaging is large enough to fit a proper manual. The DVD size boxes make manuals challenging to produce but not impossible.

wervdon · August 27, 2002, 20:44

I hate electronic books of any form

I get enough eye strain just playing games on the PC

The NWN book though is 200 and something pages in a small box, the sacrafice though was flimsy paper CD covers instead of cases, which is ok...you can always buy CD cases

Answering the 2nd part, I really doubt they put the moo3 manual online as that would make it available to warez'ers as well.

moomin · August 28, 2002, 06:02

One reason I bought both NWN and MW is that they came with nice manuals. I hate buying a full-price game and getting a sucky .pdf to read. That's beyond cheap.

Unfortunately, I seem to recall that QS has said there might be a manual for the US version, but here in Europe they'll skip it.

Which, frankly, does not make me want to rush out and buy the game on the day of release any more, let me tell you. Not that I would have anyway now, after all the brouhaha and Emrich's sacking.

Grumbold · August 28, 2002, 06:46

If you can find a source for that quote I'd be really interested, moomin. It'll mean Ill have to import if I want the game, and I like to go rant at people who make these stupid decisions

moomin · August 28, 2002, 09:22

I asked Alan that question waaay back when on the Delphi fora. That was what he said. He's not around anymore, but I don't have high hopes for this particular aspect of the marketing think to improve radically.

Not that I wouldn't be delighted, mind.

Straybow · August 28, 2002, 10:54

Yes, I recall some QS person saying that the Euro version wouldn't have the printed manual. Probably worried about the cost of translating and printing for a half dozen or more languages. Idiots. At least make the version with English manual available—how many European gamers can read English at least a little?

wervdon · August 29, 2002, 11:49

They have to translate to include a pdf manual too

And if they are going to sell a game like moo3 with no manual then they are nuts

moomin · August 29, 2002, 15:03

The whole translation manual stuff is just an excuse anyway. The real reason they have different versions for the European market is that they slap on more copy protection here - which makes absolutely no sense in the age of the intenet, since all warez releases are the US version anyway, these being out first.

Straybow · August 30, 2002, 00:19

Printing separate language versions is different from cut-and-paste translation of paragraphs and captions in a pdf file. A good excuse in the eyes of a bean-counter.

MariOne · August 30, 2002, 05:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Straybow
At least make the version with English manual available—how many European gamers can read English at least a little?

Indeed.
The irony is, that usually the localised versions are ludicrous in the best case, really shìtty sometimes.
I usually *LOATHE* our local italian versions of the game.
Often I have more trouble getting or grabbing the needed game info from a poorly translated italian documentation than from the original US one.
The only one I found that had a just decent localisation job done here, was Trade Empires.

Besides, in the recent times, all the publishers who were claiming to delay their game because they wanted to simultaneously release the localised versions in Europe, ended to make the US version available the same at least 1 month prior to the localised one, so that's just bull.

Now that I became a bit more suspicious about getting games from day one (after the big disillusion that CivIII was - truly shelfware), I must face a conundrum:
if I wait too much to get a game, the italian versions would have come out, and the original ones would have been taken out of stock in the local shops - tragedy.

Grumbold · August 30, 2002, 05:55

If you have the patience to wait that long, ordering the US version via mail won't take too much longer and if you pick a European supplier should not cost you too much in postage charges. I know what you mean about the dilemma though. If I wait and see if the UK version will ship with a manual included perhaps I can tell myself its time spent waiting for honest reviews of the US version to surface

Skanky Burns · August 30, 2002, 05:56

At least with the internet, decent reviews can be had pretty much from the release-date in the US. Broadband users could probably "test" the game more than a month before release.

The Spanish translation of Civ3 has caused quite a bit of angst.

moomin · August 30, 2002, 10:00

How so? I don't track Civ3 news anymore, but I find the mess with Euro versions interesting.

MariOne · September 2, 2002, 05:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Grumbold
If you have the patience to wait that long, ordering the US version via mail won't take too much longer and if you pick a European supplier should not cost you too much in postage charges. I know what you mean about the dilemma though. ...

This is a wise advice, but you could not know that only last month I provided myself with my frist credit card ever...

Besides, if I pick a european supplier (provided that I find one), I might incur in the same problem, that is a european supplier supplies only european versions indeed.

Also, I like to grab the item in my hands when I shell the cash...

I am surprised that you should have any problems with the localisation in the UK... I don't hink they'll review the manual for the UK version, by changing all the colors in colours and shifting the center into centre...

moomin · September 2, 2002, 05:20

No. They add more copy protection, is all. That's what localised means in the UK sense.

Grumbold · September 2, 2002, 05:48

You get different packaging, sometimes including a cut down or electronic manual. Its got to be certified and approved by UK censors (BBFC I think) and they may ask for content changes - Fallout 1&2 had all children removed, for instance, because you could shoot at them. These days they don't usually bother trying to Anglicise the language.

www.strategic-plus.co.uk is an importer who will sell you the US and UK versions of any game. Because they are based in the UK they could then post it on to you at european rates rather than via overly expensive Fedex or UPS carriers. I'm sure they're not the only option if you hunt around. I know what you mean about getting your hands on the item though. I only go electronic when I discover that the UK version is two months away or has been done on the cheap.

Asmodeous · September 20, 2002, 04:03

Personally, I don't see how Graphics are so important.

It's a viewpoint like that, imho, that causes games like Bridge Commander, et al, to come out. Games that look really pretty, have great graphics, but are really no fun to play.

One of the best games that I have ever played is still Ancient Domains of Mystery (Or ADOM), and the BEST game that I have ever played is still Wasteland, back in the day, from Electronic Arts back when they still had an O in their abbreviation.

Wasteland was text-based with a bit of a graphical interface, and ADOM, well, search for it on Google, if you see the website, you'll understand. It's a Rogue-like game.

Those games, crappy graphics and all, are still some of the best, because they have something a lot of games these days severely lack, SUBSTANCE and REPLAYABILITY.

I would be happier to shell out $40 (or $8,000 Canadian. ;D Nuttin' but love, guys. Nuttin' but love.

) for a game that has substance and replayability and crappy graphics, than to spend $20 on a game that has great graphics and nothing else.

To this day, I still find myself playing MOO2 periodically, because, although there are a tone of games that LOOK better, it's still more fun.

Me.

Rantz · September 20, 2002, 20:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Straybow
Yes, I recall some QS person saying that the Euro version wouldn't have the printed manual. Probably worried about the cost of translating and printing for a half dozen or more languages. Idiots. At least make the version with English manual available—how many European gamers can read English at least a little?

I don't think antyone on the QS side *or* the IG side ever said there wouldn't be a manual with the overseas versions. I had said at one point that I didn't know what we were going to do for the European versions, since the growing trend in retail for the Euro market is to put games in DVD-style boxes which doesn't leave a lot of room for a manual. Honestly, I don't know what the final descision is on the oerseas packaging, so I'm afraid I can't give much more info than that.

As far as the paper manual, we're expecting it to be about 180 -200 pages depending on layout, charts, illustrations and such. The goal is to have it be a good and helpful manual.

crazy thought, that.

As soon as I know what's happening with the Euro/overseas packaging, I'll post an announcement.

moomin · September 21, 2002, 05:37

Thanks for the clue-in, Rantz.

I get the feeling you're getting a little worn out by running around doing damage control at every site where imaginative fans do their best to trump each other in cynism.

Eaglezeye · September 21, 2002, 12:39

Rantz,

Thanks for the feedback.

Best of luck to you and the team during the next two months.

Straybow · September 22, 2002, 21:30

Quote:

Idiots.

Present company excluded…

moomin · September 23, 2002, 09:58

Well, Stray, you were flaming the distributors, really, not the developers anyway. So you needen't be too ashamed unless a guy from Infogreed starts posting here... And we all know the chance of that happeing, right?

What is more worthy of discussion is why developers who spend years of their lifes developing software titles allow contractual writ that makes important decisions such as these into a distributor issue - imagine a car company that'd shrug and say "they decided that, not us" when they find out their overseas sales reps are selling the cars without engines.

Grumbold · September 23, 2002, 17:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Rantz
As soon as I know what's happening with the Euro/overseas packaging, I'll post an announcement.

Much appreciated, thank you.

Rantz · September 23, 2002, 17:31

Quote:

Originally posted by moomin
I get the feeling you're getting a little worn out by running around doing damage control at every site where imaginative fans do their best to trump each other in cynism.

Oh no, I consider it to be good exercise. And thanks to Eagle for the kind words... It's going to be a busy six weeks...

Grumbold · October 22, 2002, 05:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Rantz
As soon as I know what's happening with the Euro/overseas packaging, I'll post an announcement.

Any more news yet? On another forum they seemed to think it had been announced.

Rantz · October 22, 2002, 15:34

As of today, there's no official packaging completed for the overseas version of moo3. I've seen the 'blueline' (pre press edition) of the manual and it's fairly beefy.

More as soon as we get confirmation on it.

Grumbold · October 22, 2002, 15:54

Thanks

Rockstone · March 12, 2004, 17:29

I disagree about the non elctronic packing.I like to be able to read without going somwhere and imeediantly.